Critical Thinking: Mindfulness and Thinking About Thinking

In a recent Critical Thinking Skills training program I drew a Mind Map with ‘Thinking’ in the centre and asked participants to identify words that were linked.   Mind, brain, ideas, decisions were some of the words that came out as direct links. 

Then I drew another link to the word ‘mind’ - feelings, emotions, attitude were called out.  I did not have to do much more to convince most of the folks that attitude, feelings and emotions are very much a part of critical thinking too.   Yet there were pockets of resistance.

The average critical thinking course will promise benefits such as;  

 

·         Identify an issue from a problem statement

·         Establish context and credibility of the problem   

          statement to analyze and build an argument

·         Improve critical thinking skills through active           

          listening and questioning

·         Use analytical thought systems and creative thinking 

          techniques

·         Prepare and present powerful arguments

Nothing here indicates a link to attitudes, feelings and emotions. 

The standard program consists of a logical step by step approach with activities to practice with mini case studies and examples.

So, what about attitude, feelings and emotions?. 

Why do we stay away from these words that mean so much to our everyday life?  

The Pandora’s Box

Going into these murky waters could be a veritable Pandora’s box.  There was push back as some do not want to deal with emotions and feelings when it comes to work situations. 

I have to be courageous to press on - as I know, if my intention is to make a difference to the participants to have a holistic and an embodied learning experience - I reach into my deep and diverse experiences from around the world, in many different roles and situations, some even life threatening.  

I also acknowledge the experience and knowledge of the participants, as professionals, to marshal a co-learning process.  I do not have all the answers, except I will create a safe space to explore and inquire to push boundaries – this is the simulator, so we can make mistakes and learn from them. 

Having participants identify those soft links (emotions, feelings and attitude) to 'thinking' and the 'mind', gives me a reason to dwell into these, so I wade in.

My rationale is - when we face an issue, a problem - a challenge at work that requires the use of cognitive skills to analyse by looking at multiple criteria and candidates, if I am not mindful about my own unconscious biases, prejudices and maybe even fears – my emotions (what will this mean to my power, my job?) - can I be objective?.

It is time to roll out my favourite word – mindfulness - and I have the attention of the room – perhaps surprise, wonder, straightened backs - what does mindfulness have to do with critical thinking?.  Isn’t it something to do with meditation?.  

I confirm that meditation is one of the practices to become mindful and promise to take this deeper later.

In the meantime, I make the connections – mind and thinking, mindfulness, awareness and critical thinking.   

 

For instance, if my emotions are going to prejudice the way I assess an issue from a place of fear (my loss of power, the job) perhaps, and this percolates in my sub-conscious mind, I am not even aware of, I may make a decision that may be skewed in my favour and not in the common interest.  

When others notice that the decision is not fair by all stakeholder’s and the organization’s interests, there could be dissonance and I may wonder why so many are not happy and the solution not appropriate. 

Much of our emotions and feelings lay trapped, conditioned in our sub-conscious as we do not have the time to be quiet, reflect and let them emerge.  Perhaps, we do not want to deal with them anyway, so it is better under the carpet.  Not dealing with the feelings and emotion can be a cause of stress and our thinking capabilities may get compromised.

 

The Critical Thinking Process

 

The Critical Thinking Process - Ref: Velsoft

Applying critical thinking tools and processes to identify the issue may be skewed when there is bias and prejudice.  If
the issue is stated incorrectly, the next step of identifying the arguments, clarifying the issues and arguments, establishing credibility and context, checking for consistency and evaluating the arguments can be biased as the final decision is made.  It is GIGO – garbage in garbage out. 

Mindfulness helps us to pause and bring these emotions and feelings to the surface through a self-reflection and get them out of the way to look at the problem more objectively and rationally.

How do we incorporate the mindfulness steps into the critical thinking process?

Mindfulness

Having a mindfulness practice through meditation is crucial for anyone in high stress environments. It helps to quiet the mind, allow some down-time to create some space for self to put things in a better perspective. 

With practice, it enables to surface hopes and fears that percolate in the sub-conscious mind, so we can assess especially the negative feelings, if they are real or not.  In effect, surfacing feelings from the sub-conscious, gives us more self-insights, self-knowledge and awareness. 

A daily meditation (easiest is to focus on the breath at a focal point as you breathe in and out)  practice does not have to be too long, as one learns the ability to stop the thought process, our ruminations and set the mind free for a few minutes. 

Even though this is not rocket science, somehow, it is most difficult to commit to and be consistent with.  In a world of instance gratification, we look for quick fixes, but this requires time, patience and discipline, perhaps with guidance first, to establish a practice.  

The subtle contradiction here is - I encourage people to meditate without a goal in mind.  It is just a process like we drink water not with a goal in mind, but for our sustenance.  Meditation is as crucial for our sustenance in a fast paced world.

This skill is handy when we face a serious issue at work which requires quick decisions and resolution.  Without the skills to quiet the mind, to take a step back, create some space to become objective, we may be pushed to act on a current emotion or feeling (the person you are dealing with was rude throwing you off balance, for example), or it could be a deep rooted fear, or perhaps some assumptions and generalizations that are prevalent to skew perceptions in a certain way. 

A Holistic Tool for Critical Thinking

The critical thinking process requires you to get to the root of the problem and to, identify the issue and do an objective accounting of the options you have - this path or the other.  It is at this time, I suggest, you stop, take a deep breath and quiet your mind, ask yourself a set of questions;

·         What am I observing?

·         What am I feeling?

·         What am I needing?

·         What am I requesting myself?

With practice, this sequence can be done in a few minutes. When you take a breath and ask yourself ‘What am I observing?’ – your surroundings get brighter, you will start noticing things around you, become present and helps you to go deep to your sub-conscious to bring to the surface and to your notice any feelings with the second question. 

The questions on feelings and needs requires the quietened mind to reflect and inquire - "what need has not been met for this feeling to arise?" - for instance.

 

Once there is clarity on your feelings and needs, you can request yourself to focus and listen to other views carefully to hear and comprehend the other voices – focus on the nuances and body language coming through the communications from stakeholders.  

 

All this may take less than 5 minutes and you have slowed the entire process down from the urgency, to get more clarity and with clarity your intuition may also guide you along the steps on the critical thinking path.

Becoming Rational

You may be able to identify the issue more objectively and be rational, now that you got the emotions out of the way. Then you can clarify the issue and arguments, establish context and credibility, check for consistency and evaluate the arguments to provide a better decision that you can stand by.

Mindfulness

 

Mindfulness is the common thread that runs through everything we do. We have to commit to incorporate it as a daily practice.  This may provide us with more clarity as information bombards us at speed and we are expected to make decisions even faster.  Mindfulness slows things down so we can be more deliberate and rational in our critical thinking process.

At the end of the two days – I had rewarding feedback from the participants, who said things like;

“I never realized the connection to my breath and my daily work – I realized I breathe really poorly so I am going to change that”.

“We face challenges, deal with the issues, make decisions and implement on a daily basis, but breaking the process into minute steps really helped to see the importance of each step – and the mindfulness part was most enlightening”.

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Reference: Velsoft Training Materials 

Please send me an e mail if you want to explore more <lalith@mindfulsage.net>